SHADOWLANDS (1993)

Directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, SHADOWLANDS is a fiction-sprinkled biographical film, the screenplay of which is based on William Nicholson’s own 1985 TV production and 1989 stage adaptation. Set in Cambridge and London in the '50s, the film focuses on reserved, middle aged bachelor C. S. “Jack” Lewis, an Oxford University academic and author of Narnia" books, and his relationship with divorced American poet Joy Gresham and her young son. What begins as a formal meeting of two very different minds slowly develops into intense feelings of connection and love, with each providing the other new ways of viewing the world. Initially, their marriage is one of convenience, a platonic union designed to allow Joy to remain in England. But when she becomes gravely ill, deeper feelings surface, and Lewis' faith is tested as his wife works to prepare him for the pain to come. Debra Winger is very good as the outgoing Joy, and as the repressed Lewis, Anthony Hopkins once again demonstrates his power as one of the greatest actors our time. (Trivia note: The title is taken from the final chapter of the final book in "The Chronicles of Narnia" and is, says Lewis, "The place where real life hasn't begun.")